The Heart of the Matter
by Kathryn Claire O'Connor
Summary: Third in the Polygamy Project series! Reid's a genius in almost all respects; that's why he's so interested in this polygamy project. The only problem is that it puts him straight in the middle of a quartet of the one thing that he's never been able to understand - women. It's hard enough to fall in love with one woman, but what's he to do when he starts to fall for three at once!
1. Chapter 1

**You guys asked for Reid's story, so buckle up for the ride, because here we go!**

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Special Agent Dr. Spencer Reid was nervous. And he was thinking. He was probably doing too much thinking, actually, especially when his job was to observe and participate. He couldn't do his best by this project if he wasn't paying attention and being a part of it. And now he was thinking too much about thinking too much…

"Spencer!"

"Hey, Dr. Reid!"

A hand fell sharply across his shoulder blade. "_Reid_!"

Spencer startled into awareness, looking at the woman who had hit him. Elle Greenaway. "What?"

"Every one of us just tried getting your attention!"

"Every one of us" being, Austin Lawrence, Elle, Ashley Seaver, and Lila Archer.

"What is it?"

"What was distracting you?" Ashley Seaver asked, obviously ignoring his question.

"There's four women here, all of whom he's dated at some point;" Elle said drolly. "Take your pick."

"No!" Spencer blushed, shaking his head fiercely. "I was – I was just thinking about all that we have left to do."

"Well, right now we need to get dinner on the table," Lila said, picking up a bowl of salad for emphasis.

The four remaining adults took her lead, and each took a dish to the table.

"Does it matter where we sit?" Ashley asked, looking to Spencer.

He shrugged. "I'm supposed to be a husband, not a dictator; it's whatever you want."

"You should sit at the head of the table, right?" Austin said the first words that she had spoken directly to him since he had gotten to their home for the duration of the project – in one side of six specially-made duplexes in Alexandria, Virginia that comprised the small community of people who had been thrown together to do this polygamy project.

"I don't care," Spencer replied.

"Of course you do," Lila said. "You're supposed to be, like, the patriarch of the family or something."

As he slid obediently into the seat at the head of the table, Ashley sat down on his right side, and Spencer couldn't help but wonder if maybe that wasn't going to be a symbolic gesture of sorts. Lila flopped down on his left side.

_Maybe more symbolism there?_

Austin sat down beside Ashley, so Elle plopped down beside Lila, looking slightly disgruntled about something that Spencer wasn't even sure he wanted to guess at.

"Well," Ashley said as they began to get their food. "You mentioned 'all that we have left to do.' What does that entail?"

Spencer cleared his throat, trying not to stammer as he mentioned the two things that needed addressed immediately. "We need to assign who's first, second, third, and fourth wife, and decide on a sleeping schedule."

Suddenly Austin snorted as she sat back in her chair, looking amused.

"What?" Spencer asked innocently. "It's the nature of the project."

"It's just that I can tell you right now exactly how that first part is going to go."

"And how is that?" Spencer asked, feeling flustered by her sudden animation.

"I think that it's going to end up being in the order in which they kissed you; I think it's a safe bet to say that order shows how confident, or even just comfortable that they are around you, am I right profiler?"

"Something like that," Spencer answered grudgingly.

"And, I mean, really, you don't just randomly _shudder _when someone kisses you unless you actually feel something for her. That I know for a fact."

"Well, maybe I don't flirt with women unless I want to kiss them too," the words slid past his teeth without going through his brain, and they all saw Austin shut down because of them. She opened her mouth to answer, but Spencer cut her off before she could make a sound, saying desperately, "I'm sorry. We can talk about that later, if you want, but right now we need to get the basics ironed out."

"The only thing _I want _is to be the last wife," Austin said with certainty, her eyes retaining their anger for a second longer before it seeped away. "The least important one."

"That's fine with me," Spencer said quickly. "If that's what you want."

"It is," Austin said with a curt nod.

"Okay, fine, great. That's one down." Trying to look like he wasn't floundering as much as he felt like he was, Spencer looked in turn at the other three women sitting around the table and asked, "What about you three?"

Elle and Ashley both shrugged, but Lila got this look in her eye that Spencer didn't know what to do with, and that only served to help unsettle him all the more.

"I think it should be up to you," Ashley offered.

"So, it's a matter of favoritism?" Spencer asked uncomfortably.

"Well, yeah, kind of," Elle said, putting her two cents in. "Especially when we all 'get married to you' at the same time."

Spencer sighed and closed eyes, knowing that he was probably about to start something as he said, "Okay, why don't we just set it up according to Austin's theory then?"

There was a frown around the edges of Lila's mouth, but all three women agreed.

Spencer sighed again, this time with relief, and said, "Alright then. Glad we got that settled."

"You mentioned a 'sleeping schedule,'" Elle pointed out with a small smirk.

"As in which nights we each get to sleep with you?" Lila asked, sounding a little incredulous.

Spencer knew that he was as red as a tomato and he hated himself for it as he muttered, "Something like that."

"Why don't we just go one night at a time and rotate it according to the order of the wives?" Ashley asked, obviously trying to find him an easy out to this horrid conversation.

Elle snorted, leaning back in her chair as she said, "Well, now we all know what you're here for, Agent Seaver."

It took Ashley a second to realize what Elle meant, but when she did, she became as flushed as Spencer as she stumbled over her words, saying, "No, no! That's not it at all! It just seemed like the simplest conclusion that we could come to!"

"She's right," Spencer broke back into the conversation before Ashley could be given any more grief. "I say we do it."

More careless shrugs and then Spencer could finally breath freely again. They now had the basics down at least. But the problem was that they were just that… the basics. This project was only just beginning.

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**Hopefully you guys enjoyed this first chapter! Reviews (and votes on my poll) make my day if you feel so inclined! Thanks!:)**


	2. Chapter 2

**Sorry about the long wait for another chapter, but updates on this story might be sparatic at best, since I'm concentrating on another story, "Worth Fighting For" at the moment. I also warn you that I have no idea what took over my muse during the last bit of this chapter... Just sayin'.**

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"Are you four all unpacked?" Spencer asked conversationally as they all started getting up from the dinner table after eating their meal.

"No," Elle answered.

Ashley's reply was "Not yet."

"I've still got a little bit to do," Lila said.

"I'm done unpacking," Austin offered. "If you want, I can take care of putting supper up so that you guys can finish settling in."

"Okay."

"Sure."

"Thanks, Austin."

And just like that, three of Spencer's four experimental wives trooped up the stairs, leaving him downstairs with his fourth "bride."

"Listen, Austin," he said, broaching conversation as they began to clear the table. "I'm sorry for that comment that I made earlier; I never say things like that normally, but this… isn't normal. I know it isn't an excuse, but it really was just the stress talking."

"Yeah, that's okay. The same here, actually. Coming here sounded like a good idea, but then I got here, and I saw you again, and I got overworked and took it out on you when I shouldn't have."

He let his smile signal an acceptance of her apology before he asked, "So why did you come here?"

Austin sighed wearily as she began to put the leftovers away. "Because I need the cash."

"What happened to that magic act that you were going to start the last time I talked to you?"

"That was way back in 2008… and it bottomed out, didn't even get started, really, before it was already over."

"I'm sorry to hear that," Spencer said honestly.

Austin shrugged. "Oh well; life happens, you know." A pause and then she said carefully, "Spencer… there's a reason that we didn't work before."

"I know," Spencer said easily. "It was just too hard."

"And, just so we're crystal clear, I'm not here to try and rekindle anything, okay?"

"Okay," Spencer agreed easily. "…But you know that the point of the project is that we act like we're actually married, even if it is just for a couple of weeks."

Austin sighed. "Do I have to?"

"That is what you're being paid for," Spencer reminded her.

"Yeah, fine…" Austin groused, and only then did Spencer realize that she was at least half joking with him before her expression turned unmistakably serious as she added, "But, seriously, Spencer, if you never come into my bedroom while I'm here, it will be too soon."

He eyed her out of the corner of his eye, trying to decide how to answer that request. As much as he was uncomfortable with the fact, it wasn't a request that he could grant. He had a feeling that this phrase was one that he was going to be using frequently, but this really was just the nature of the project. In the name of science, he had to abide by that fact.

"Do you really want to go into this project acting like not only a couple, but like a couple who's going through marital issues? Because that really is the only reason I can think of that a man wouldn't sleep even in the same bed as his own wife."

Austin leaned with her palms on the edge of the kitchen sink, jaw tight and back tense, her dark hair hiding whatever frustration he knew he would otherwise see on her face.

"Wouldn't that be closest to the truth?" she finally asked, unable to hide the thread of terseness in her tone.

"Austin…"

"You know what, Spencer?" she cut him off, suddenly turning and heading for the stairway. "We have three days to figure this out; I'm not arguing with you right now. I'm going to bed; goodnight."

Spencer sighed tiredly, not daring to try and stop her. Maybe he would hurt Garcia after all… "Good night, Austin."

Spencer sighed as the brunette took the stairs two at a time. Ashley came down as she went up; coming into the kitchen in time to catch Spencer's defeated posture before he went back to gathering the supper dishes together.

"Is she okay?" Ashley asked, gesturing to the staircase that Austin had just ascended.

"She's doing the same thing that I am right now," Spencer admitted.

"And what's that?" Ashley asked, stepping farther into the kitchen as she sensed his mood.

He sighed, and then muttered, "Wishing that I had never come. Who talked me into this anyway?"

"I believe, Dr. Reid," Ashley said with a small smile as she came ever closer, "That person was you. The way I heard it, you decided quite on your own to do this once Dr. Brennan approached you, and then you got the rest of your team involved, and Garcia called in a few other people."

"Including you?"

"Exactly," Ashley said, winding her arms comfortably around his neck. "Including me. That's a bright spot, right?" She smiled coyly, saying, "We can start right where we left off, if you want… With not even have to deal with David Rossi acting like I'm a teenager and he's my dad."

"Tempting," Spencer admitted, heat slowly beginning to wind its way throughout his whole body.

"Tempting enough?" Ashley asked, her very expression pulling him in as she purposely bit her lip.

"Ashley, there are still three more women in this house, and as soon as we'd try something, one of them would undoubtedly walk in on it."

"Who cares!" she said, only half teasing him. "The profiler in me has long figured out that you've already at least made out with everyone of them, so it's not like they're not used to seeing you in a compromising position every now and again, right?"

"Ashley!" he yelped, flushing to the roots of his hair, and halfway despising the part of her that was so good at her job. "That is not at all the point!"

"Well, it's _my_ point! Besides, how do you expect to make a good polygamist if you're concerned about three 'wives' not liking that you show affection to a fourth 'wife'. Sounds like a pretty miserable married life, right?"

Spencer mumbled something incoherent.

"And besides," Ashley coaxed the last of his willpower away. "You know that you want to…"

Giving in, he kissed her – a promise of what was soon to come – before he took her hand and they darted up the stairs together, closing her bedroom door behind them.

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**Hopefully you guys enjoyed this chapter! Reviews (and votes on my poll) make my day if you feel so inclined! Thanks!:)**


	3. Chapter 3

**This is the only chapter that is crossover-ish since it contains Lance Sweets and Jack Hodgins (from Bones), and Timothy McGee, Tony DiNozzo and Jimmy Palmer, (from NCIS), along with mentions of other characters from those shows.**

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On the first Saturday during the project – six days into it – Spencer walked in the door after getting home from work to a blowout fight between Lila and Austin, the two wives that he had the least idea how to best handle. Knowing this, Ashley met him at the door before he'd even closed it, took his arm, and guided him right back outside, shutting the door behind them.

"Since you're one of the actual researchers of this project and actually helped get it together, you know the layout of this little cul-de-sac, right?" Ashley asked.

"Yeah," Spencer answered in confusion.

"I've heard that there's a man cave hangout for the guys underneath the fourth duplex in a basement there – no one but the family 'patriarchs' allowed. Is that true?"

Spencer repeated his earlier answer, "Yeah."

"Have you been there yet?"

"No."

"Then go – now."

"Why?"

"Because I love you too much to let you get involved in that," Ashley said flatly – even a little sardonically – as she pointed behind her to the door.

Spencer opened his mouth to object, but the words froze in his throat when he heard the timely crash of a piece of glassware from somewhere behind that closed door of his residence. Paling, he turned on his heel and fled for the hangout underneath Morgan and Anthony DiNozzo's duplex. As Spencer opened the exterior door to the basement at the back of the house and went down the stairs, he was encased by the noise of talking men and the faint smell of beer and sweat.

Stepping unnoticed off of the stairs, Spencer took off his messenger bag and flung it to the side of the room, looking around as he tuned into the conversation that seemed to dominate the room. It seemed like almost all of the men were here for some relaxation after work.

"I'm going to lose my mind," Rossi said despairingly from his seat at the wet bar as he took a gulp of his scotch "That or kill myself."

"Oh," Will LaMontagne groaned. "I hear you. I've always considered myself a ladies' man when I want to be, but Sydney's got me about ready to rip my hair out. She's a nice girl and everything, but JJ's my wife, not her."

"Isn't that what this project is supposed to be about, though?" Jimmy Palmer asked timidly, taking a swig of his Pepsi. "Having more than one wife?" He looked around, saying, "It can't really by that bad, can it? Breena, Anna, and I have been doing okay. I mean, it's been absolutely great to have Anna around helping us figure out things with Summer." Palmer looked over at the man that shared his duplex, asking, "How have you three been handling things?"

Jack Hodgins groaned, throwing his head back against the couch he was sitting on as he answered, "Not very well. Angie is about to lose her mind about having Andi in the house, and she's driving me nuts over it."

"'Andi'?" Will repeated.

"Yeah, I use the nickname Angie for Angela, so why not call Andrea 'Andi'? That's equal treatment of sorts for the quote-unquote wives, and that is what we're supposed to be doing."

Will muttered something unintelligible and threw back another shot – one of the many that Spencer had a feeling the other man had already consumed.

"I don't get what the big deal is about nicknames, either," Morgan said, sitting up from where he had been doing some bench presses on one of the few exercise machines in a corner of the room. He wiped sweat out of his eyes with the sleeve of his shirt, further explaining, "I completely understand what you're saying, though. I've called Penelope 'Baby Girl' for as long as I've known her and Savannah knows that and is fine with it, but now all of a sudden this week she's throwing fits over it. You should have seen her this morning when I called Jordan 'babe.'" Morgan rolled his eyes. "I thought she was going to stab me or something."

"Did you ever think…" Will drawled, taking the beer that Rossi offered him. "That maybe it's bothered her from the beginning, but she's only now feeling insecure enough to actually say something about it?"

"Insecure in what?" Morgan asked, coming over and leaning against the bar, claiming a beer of his own and opening it as he asked, "That I love her?"

Will muttered something that sounded like "obviously" before taking a long drink from his beer can.

"Oh, come on, guys," Jimmy said mildly. "It can't all be that bad, can it?"

"Oh, yes, it can!" Rossi said. "As a matter of fact, it can be worse. Speaking of which: have any of you seen Gibbs today? I'm worried one of the redheads might have dragged off his cooling corpse by now."

"Heather – the brunette out of the crew – is the worst one of them," McGee spoke up. "But I doubt even she's capable of cold-blooded murder. Probably everything else, but not murder. And, for the record, I disagree with you. Not everyone's experiences here are going to be good, no – but they're not all bad either, just like in monogamous marriages."

"He's right," Lance Sweets said, peering up from the book that he had been reading in a corner. "I can even say this: Lillian is about to drive me crazy, but it has been great to get reconnected with Daisy, so I'm dealing with both sides of it at once. Yes, this project is hard, but, personally, I'm enjoying it. Polygamy is not something that I would ever choose to live out elsewhere or for an extended period of time, but it is becoming an interesting learning experience."

McGee nodded, smiling at Dr. Sweets in thanks as the psychologist went back to his hardback, and saying slowly, "It is hard, but I really do love both and of my wives, and I've been getting the feeling more and more that where me, Abby, and Delilah are concerned, it really is going to be worth it." He took a deep breath, admitting carefully, "I think that we're going to try having a real polygamous relationship."

And that was the first time that the thought crossed Spencer's mind.

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**Hopefully you guys enjoyed this chapter! Reviews (and votes on my poll) make my day if you feel so inclined! Thanks!:)**


	4. Chapter 4

The first two weeks of the polygamy project were… strange to say the least. Spencer had – per what a project on polygamy would seem to imply – gone to bed with as many of his four "wives" as would allow him entrance to their rooms – which was to say, Ashley, Elle, and Lila, but not in any way Austin. While he really felt that he had made some great observations that related to polygamy within the allotted two weeks, he honestly also felt like he had made real, legitimate steps towards rekindling friendships with the most three willing women as well.

It was after those first two weeks that things seemed to shift within the small community of residents on Federal Lane. Some of the people went back to their "real lives," – though not hardly as many as Spencer had anticipated. The others stayed on the lane for one reason or another and continued on with the project. At the time, Spencer had honestly had no other intentions for his own remaining beyond simply to be a front row observer on what went on the longer the project kept going. He had known for a fact that Austin would leave as soon as possible and had assumed that Ashley, Elle, and Lila would be right behind her. When they weren't – when they chose to continue the polygamy project and stayed with him instead – that added a whole other dimension to his remaining.

For those first two weeks, Spencer had noticed that Austin mostly stayed fiercely private, tucked away on the sidelines of whatever they were doing, and that was fine with him. Considering her outlook in the project, he had expected it. But as it turned out, she was the only one that he had predicted correctly.

He had expected it to be difficult at times for the five of them to live together, but he hadn't quite expected the petty fights and jealousies that had arisen from time to time, especially between his first three wives.

He asked Elle about it during the first night that he was spending in her room after they had passed the two week mark, and she had looked at him with that endeared expression that told him that she thought he was a little slow on the uptake. He hadn't gotten that look in a while, come to think of it, but this project was bringing it back in with a vengeance.

She laid her head on his shoulder, saying simply, "We're jealous."

"Of what?" he asked in confusion.

"Of each other, I guess. I mean, think about it. For me, it's the fact that there are these two obviously very pretty blonde women vying for my husband's attention. You and Ashley have clearly been able to start right back at wherever it was that you two must have left off when she transferred to Andi Swan's unit and Lila… Lila's this sunshine-y, bubbly actress. It doesn't take a genius to see that you love them, Spencer."

Spencer stayed still and silent, thinking over what she had just said – realizing that she was right on all counts. In his own way, he loved all three of them; he could see making a life with any one of the three of them. Maybe – if he was incredibly brave and willing to be incredibly strange – even with all three of them at once. But could that even work?

"Spencer?" Elle called, breaking into his thoughts.

"You're right," he admitted with a soft sigh. "I do love them, but I love you just as much as I do either one of them. For reasons, reasons that are very different for every one of you three, I love you each equally. And if it makes you feel any better, you do have a lot more substance where intelligence is concerned than Lila does."

Elle laughed. "So is that your way of calling Lila dumb or of calling me smart?"

"Neither," Spencer answered. "It's just that I have learned that… if I want to have an intelligent conversation, I go to you; if I want someone to make me laugh and cheer me up, I go to Lila; if I want to get things sorted out in my head emotionally for one reason or another, I go to Ashley. Together you three manage to keep me sane, and each one of you brings out a different side of me. That's why - to my own great surprise – I have learned over the past two weeks to love each one of you, independently of the other wives, for the sake of your own merits."

After a moment of silence, Elle asked him, "Have you told Ashley and Lila that?"

"No; this is the first time I've ever really taken a step back and looked at it."

"You should tell them," Elle suggested. "They would really like to hear it."

"But if I tell them… what happens when we do finally decide to leave this place?"

Elle didn't answer for a long moment, and Spencer had begun to wonder if she had drifted off in his arms when she whispered softly, "Who says we have to?"

Who says we have to?

Spencer sighed again, once again retreating into his head to think this over. Thanks to the brief previews of the journals of the people from Timothy McGee's household that Spencer had gotten for his own official research into polygamy, he knew that at least McGee, Abby, and Agent Fielding had decided to enter into a real polygamous relationship outside of the bounds of the project. Would that work for Spencer and his three wives, though?

"It really wouldn't hurt for the four of us to just sit down and talk about it, Spencer," Elle spoke up again. "What's the worst that could happen? We decide not to do it, and go back to our old lives instead. As it is, we're eventually going to do that anyway. We really should talk to them about it, if you're actually serious about it."

Spencer realized then that he was "actually serious about it," so the next day, he took a leap of faith, and sat his three wives down in the living room, ready to talk this out.

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**Hopefully you guys enjoyed this chapter! Reviews (and votes on my poll) make my day if you feel so inclined! Thanks!:)**


	5. Chapter 5

Spencer just hadn't expected them to respond to the idea as willingly – as downright happily – as they had. Elle was as willing as she had sounded the night before and Ashley and Lila agreed as well, although the latter sounded understandably wary of the arrangement, if not a little disappointed with it.

He knew that Lila had hoped – more than any of the others even might have – to rekindle something of a romantic relationship with him, and that she was a little disappointed with the fact that it had been harder for her to strike something up with him then it had Ashley or Elle.

He had meant what he told Elle about separately loving each one of them for his own reasons, in his own way, and for their own merits. Somehow he still managed to love them equally though. Even Lila, no matter how much he thought that she probably didn't see it that way despite the fact that he had just said as much via his recitation of last night's conversation with Elle. He would have to talk to Lila about that at the earliest possible moment, he decided.

As timing would have it that was an easy enough thing to arrange since that night was his night to spend with the blonde actress.

After crawling underneath the covers that night, he kissed her and pulled her to him. She laid her head on his chest, and he wondered if she could hear his heartbeat as easily as he could as he said softly, "I love you, Lila."

"I love you, too," Lila answered immediately, but for once it wasn't the answer that Spencer had been looking for.

"You do know that I love you, don't you?" he asked, trying not to show how terrified he was of having the conversation that he was starting.

She didn't say anything for an inhumanly long moment as she lay still and tense in his arms, but eventually he felt her nod against his chest.

"But what?" he asked. "What's the matter then? Why are you still upset?"

"It's nothing; I'm not upset."

"Lila, I am a profiler, remember? You're lying to me, and it wouldn't even take a profiler to see it. Now – what's wrong?"

Lila sighed before finally giving in and giving him the information that he wanted as she asked, "Am I the only one who thinks that this is even a little weird? Sharing my… whatever you are to me by now… with three other women?"

"It's only two other women now," he said feebly.

She snapped his name out irritably between her teeth, acting nothing like his usual ray of sunshine for the moment.

"Okay, okay," he said. "Yes, you're right; it is strange. But why not? I mean, Lila, you have keep something about me in mind. I have an IQ of 187 who was raised – if I can even use that word – from adolescence by a single mother who had paranoid schizophrenia; I have never known a normal day in my life. Why should I have to start now? Why should my marriage have to be a conventional one?"

"But what about me?!" Lila asked heatedly, surging upward into a seated position and staring sadly down at him with blue eyes swimming with unshed tears. "What about how I feel about this?"

Spencer sat up slowly as he considered his answer, not wanting to make the situation or her emotional state any worse. "You did agree to give this type of relationship a real try, though, and I've got to say that I think that all of us have managed it remarkably well these past couple of weeks."

"I know," Lila moaned. "It's just so hard."

"It is hard," Spencer agreed. "Both for the women and the men; it's not easy trying to keep multiple wives happy or keep myself in the good graces of all of them. I'm obviously bad at that last part." He looked her solemnly in the eye, demanding her full attention as he took her hands in his and said, "But I need you to understand something, sweetheart. Despite all of those problems and difficulties, _I love you_. Despite being in relationships with two other women, _I love you_; having Ashley Seaver and Elle Greenaway here, too, is never, _ever_ going to diminish the way that I feel about _you_. You are my only Lila – my absolutely irreplaceable Lila – and I need you just as much as I need Ashley and Elle – in some ways even more than I need them."

He could tell that he was getting somewhere with her. What he was saying was sinking in and she believed him, but she looked suddenly skeptical when the last phrase slipped past his lips.

"How can you possibly – in any way – need me more than you do the other two? Ninety percent of the time, I totally don't get where you're coming from, but with them you can sit down and discuss next to anything. With them you can go over cases and be a little team of your own besides the people that you work with under Agent Hotchner. It makes me sick to even just look at your crime scene photos."

"That's just it, Lila!" Spencer said with a smile. "I need you to come up every once in awhile when I've brought work home and slap the files closed and tell me to put them away. I need you to drag me away from my work – and so do Ashley and Elle, for that matter.

"Has it even occurred to you that you are now the only person in this house who is even mildly bothered by the things that I bring home from work, by the cases that I talk about with Ashley and Elle? We need you to be the sunshine in this house. I need you… just because that is how much I love you." He took a deep breath, saying, "Lila, I want so badly for you to stay here and be my wife – be one of my wives – but if that isn't something you can handle – if you want to leave – then I won't even try to hold you back."

Spencer was surprised when she launched herself into his arms and began to cry. "I don't even care if you love them too!" she gasped. "Why should I let them keep the best thing that's ever happened to all three of us between just the two of them? You're mine too, now, Spencer."

"You're not going to leave me?" Spencer asked anxiously, cupping her face in his hands.

"Of course not," Lila said resolutely. "As a matter of fact, I think I've kind of been growing to enjoy having sister wives. It makes it so much easier to gang up on you when I want something."

Spencer burst out laughing before he kissed her soundly.

This project had become so much more for the man of science that he was. Sure, he was going to stay objective about observing how things happened. He was going to take notes, and keep a journal, and be factual, and gather information on polygamy just like he had planned from the start. That wasn't all that there was going to be to it anymore, though, because while he was doing all of those things, he was still going to actually live this life. This project wasn't just about his mind's observations anymore; it had become so much more. It was about his heart's emotions, and these three women that he had learned to love all over again.

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**Hopefully you guys enjoyed this story! Reviews (and votes on my poll) make my day if you feel so inclined! Thanks!:)**


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